The Worker Picture is a form of relief, made of discarded objects; fragments which the artist and writer Kurt Schwitters invested with new meaning in his composition by choosing to display them as "art". Starting off as an expressionist painter, he went on to create his own dada movement - "Merz" - a radical reaction against the madness of war and the naive enthusiasm of the art movements of his time. His life was characterised by humour and melancholy. His "Merzkunst" is a game as long as life itself, while waiting for death.